Fanny Lumsden has shared her first new music of 2025: A cover of Gotye‘s 2011 hit, ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’. It largely subverts the arrangement of the original, focusing more on elements of roots, country and folk. The song was originally performed by Lumsden and her backing band, The Prawn Stars, on an episode of Spicks & Specks in 2024, after it was revealed as the episode’s “secret song”. After a positive reception from viewers, the cover was adapted into Lumsden’s live show.
“[We] loved playing around with it so much, we thought it about time we recorded it,” said Lumsden. “It’s the first song that has my whole live touring band on it, and it makes me so happy that each of these people I spend so much time with on the road brought a little of themselves to the song. We also wanted to feature the harmonies, which are a big thing for us live.”
The accompanying music video for the cover was directed by Darcy Bly, and filmed on location in the Upper Murray region. “We got the band up early when they were down to play the Man From Snowy River Festival, went up on top on the hill and shot it in 1.5 hours,” said Lumsden. The video can be viewed below.
Fanny Lumsden – ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’
‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ was originally released by Gotye and Kimbra in July of 2011, and was the second single lifted from Gotye’s third (and, to date, final) album, Making Mirrors. It went on to become one of the biggest Australian songs of all time, as well as one of the defining hit singles of the 2010s. It has been certified platinum a whopping 76 times globally, and topped the charts in 26 different countries – including the US, making Gotye the first Australian act to do so since Savage Garden a decade prior. The song also scored two Grammys, including Record Of The Year, while locally it won the multi-instrumentalist five ARIA Awards and topped the triple j Hottest 100 of 2011.
Although the song has been covered dozens of times previously – including by the likes of Eskimo Joe, Three Days Grace and the cast of Glee – the song has re-entered the cultural lexicon in 2025 thanks to being sampled by American rapper Doechii on her own hit single, the divisive ‘Anxiety’.
Lumsden is set to tour nationally as Paul Kelly‘s support act on his first-ever arena tour in August 2025. She was originally going to be joined by Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit on the bill, but he was later replaced by fellow American alt-country artist Lucinda Williams. She will then reprise her role in Yesterday’s Gone: The Fleetwood Mac Legacy tribute show alongside Eskimo Joe frontman Kav Temperley, Charlie Collins and Karen Lee Andrews at this year’s Night At The Barracks.
Further Reading
Fanny Lumsden’s Going Up the Country
Paul Kelly Unearths 40-Year Old Track For New Single ‘Cool Hand Lukin’
Julia Jacklin Is Now Fronting A Grinspoon Tribute Band Called Binspoon
